Scope and Content Note

This subject category contains material pertaining to the establishment, organization and reorganization of the Federal Government as a whole, and related subjects such as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Executive Orders, Proclamations, heraldry, historical matters and records. The Executive categories mainly include correspondence of the President, White House Staff and administration officials, while the General categories mainly contain White House Staff replies to private citizens and businessmen promoting services to the government. Primary correspondents include John Brown III, William Timmons, Noble Melencamp, James Keogh and John Ehrlichman. Related material may be found in the following subject categories:

FG

Federal Agencies

FG 2

Former Presidents

FG 71

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

FG 175

National Publications Commission

PA

Parks - Monuments

WH

White House

[see Specific Subject]

Agency Programs and Functions

FE - FE 1-3 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT; BILL OF RIGHTS

These categories include a few documents relating to the donation of Presidential papers, and proposals for a "National Respect for Authority Day" and the relocation of the Capitol to South Dakota.

FE 2 CAPITOL

The Executive category includes materials concerning Presidential visits to the Capitol and his correspondence with the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, appointment of the Capitol Architect, and House Joint Resolution 736, a Capitol restoration feasibility study. The General category contains requests from private citizens and organizations for tours, staging ceremonies, and information concerning preservation problems and the history of the Capitol.

FE 3 CEREMONIALS - PROTOCOL

This category includes information concerning the protocol for flags, dignitaries' visits, bill-signing and medal of honor ceremonies, precedence lists, and Presidential arrivals at Andrews Air Force Base.

FE 3-1 DEATHS - FUNERALS

This category contains correspondence, Presidential messages and proclamations concerning the deaths of prominent United States citizens and international figures, including Louis Armstrong, J. Edgar Hoover, Ralph Bunche, Hugo Black, David Ben-Gurion, Lester Pearson, and the assassinated Khartoum hostages, Ambassador Gleo Noel and Deputy Chief of Mission George Moore.

FE 3-1/FG 2 DEATHS - FUNERALS/FORMER PRESIDENTS

The Executive category covers the White House arrangements for the funerals of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson, and the correspondence of the President and State Department with the former Presidents' families and heads of foreign countries. The General category includes private citizens' correspondence to the President containing tributes to the former Presidents and comments about the funeral services.

FE 4 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

A proposed Constitutional Convention, the Bicentennial, the Equal Rights Amendment, busing, the 26th Amendment (18 year old vote) and an impeachment resolution for Justice William Douglas are among the topics in this category.

These categories include information concerning Presidential War Powers legislation, the Cooper-Church amendment on Cambodia, the relationship of the Domestic Council and Congress, use of the Presidential veto, a bill to amend Executive Privilege (S. 1125) and correspondence concerning access to Presidential papers and other Watergate-related material.

FE 5 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

This category contains suggestions for the Bicentennial, private citizens' personal declarations of independence and school children's correspondence.

FE 6 EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Numerous proposed or published Executive Orders are found in this category. Subjects include domestic and international trade, civil rights, the environment, labor-management relations, civilian and military pay and other federal government policies, formations of Presidential advisory commissions and councils, and inspections of income tax forms by various Congressional committees.

FE 7 HERALDRY

This category includes materials concerning the history and customs of the American and Presidential flags, the Presidential Seal and Coat of Arms, the National Anthem, the flag on the President's helicopter and suggestions for flag ceremonies during the Apollo XII moon landing.

FE 7-1 FLAGS

American flag designs and other patriotic art, flag protocol, Pledge of Allegiance demonstrations, anti-war flag burning demonstrations, the wearing of American flag and flag lapel pins on police uniforms, and donations and requests for American flags are among the topics in this category. For state flags see: ST; flags of foreign countries see: CO; flags of ships see: TN. For requests of flags flown over the White House or Capitol see: PR.

FE 7-2 SEALS - COATS OF ARMS

This category includes the laws and customs pertaining to the use of the Great Seal, Coat of Arms and flags of the President, and the Vice Presidential and departmental seals such as the Office of Management and Budget, Environmental Protection Agency and National Credit Administration. Bicentennial activities, a history and commercial uses of the Great Seal and the use of a seal similar to the President's by the Republican National Committee, are also covered.

FE 7-2-1 PRESIDENT'S [SEAL - COAT OF ARMS]

Regulations concerning and requests for the use of the President's seal and signature are found in this category.

FE 8 HISTORY - HISTORICAL EVENTS

George Washington, Francis Drake, Samuel Mudd, James Buchanan, Bourke Cockran of Tammany Hall, the Battle of Point Pleasant, West Virginia (1774), the Cuban Invasion (1961) and the Former Members of Congress Oral History Project are among the subjects in this category.

FE 9 MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

This category contains materials concerning the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Management Improvement Program, White House and OMB monitoring of the agencies' implementation of Presidential policies, the President's Advisory Council on Management Improvement, computer applications, management of bureaucracies by political appointees, unemployment, the Freedom of Information Act, and the 1971 Presidential Management Improvement Awards. For paperwork management see: FE 14.

FE 10 - 10-3 NATIONAL EMBLEMS; NATIONAL ANTHEM; NATIONAL FLOWER; NATIONAL MOTTO

These categories include suggestions for national symbols, such as the square dance, various flowers and creeds. Suggestions for the playing of the national anthem at football games, in Peking and the lunar surface, including correspondence from Col. Frank Borman, USAF, to the President, and arguments for and against retaining the National Anthem are found in the files.

Tax laws for donated papers, preservation projects of the Presidential Libraries (1971), a meeting of John Ehrlichman and John Dean with Presidential Library Directors, donations of papers and museum objects to the Presidential Libraries, the Herbert Hoover Oral History Program and Richard M. Nixon Foundation correspondence are among the topics in this category.

FE 12/FG 2 PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES/FORMER PRESIDENTS

This category contains correspondence with Presidential Library Directors concerning topics such as the rededication of the Eisenhower Library, Herbert Hoover's 100th birthday celebration and the staffing, dedication, declassification policies and Civil Rights Symposium at the Johnson Library. Other subjects in this category include Presidential Library donations and acquisitions, Senator Fulbright's request for Vietnam materials in the Johnson Library, and the presentation of condolence messages from world leaders to Mrs. Truman and Mrs. Eisenhower.

These categories include materials concerning the disposition of President Nixon's pre-Presidential and Presidential papers and other materials, solicitations and offers of donations, suggestions for the future Nixon Library's site, staff and programs, Richard M. Nixon Foundation activities, and two Richard Nixon oral history projects conducted at Whittier State College and California State College, Fullerton. Frequent correspondents include John Ehrlichman, John Dean, John Nesbitt, Walter Barbash, Edward Morgan, and Leonard Firestone and Loie Gaunt of the Nixon Foundation.

FE 13 PROCLAMATIONS

Copies of and requests for proclamations concerning historical events, individuals, organizations, sports, national holidays and popular issues such as health, safety, veterans, Prisoners of War and Missing in Action service personnel are contained in this category.

FE 14 RECORDS-ARCHIVES

This category includes topics pertaining to paperwork management, indexing and filing systems, microfilming, retention and disposal of records, correspondence, reports and forms management. Matters concerning the Office of Presidential Papers, the disposition of Presidential Papers, the National Security Council, security classification procedures, income tax and custom forms simplification and access to government records are found in the files.

FE 14-1 ACCESS TO RECORDS

Approved and unapproved requests from the public, courts, Congressional Committees and government agencies to inspect government records are found in this file. There are many standard Congressional requests to examine income tax records as part of investigatory hearings. Other topics include a request of Senator Fulbright to examine Johnson era Vietnam papers, Freedom of Information Act requests and legislation, and National Archives and Interagency Review Committee document declassification procedures.

FE 14-2 RECEIPTS FOR RECORDS, RETAINED, RETURNED OR REFERRED TO DEPARTMENTS OR AGENCIES

This category comprises nearly 1/3 of the FE files. The materials consist of carbon and electrostatic copies of correspondence containing money, checks or other documents which were returned to the sender or forwarded to the appropriate government agency or the Republican National Committee. The correspondence includes requests from the general public for Presidential assistance with Social Security, veteran's benefits, military careers, tax returns, coin collections, government publications and photos, birth certificates and welfare aid. Returned draft cards, requests for conscientious objector and hardship military status or service in Vietnam, other comments concerning the Vietnam War, donations toward the alleviation of starvation in the United States, Biafra and Pakistan, the moon landing of Apollo 11 and the freedom of Cuban prisoners are also among the files.